Five scrapyard workers were crushed to death after the “foreseeable risk” of a concrete wall collapsing wasn’t identified, an inquest jury has concluded.
An 11-strong panel found the collapse of the 11.8ft makeshift wall had accidentally caused the deaths of the workers, who were originally from Senegal or Gambia.
The men, all Spanish citizens, died when a concrete partition came down, slamming tonnes of concrete blocks and metal onto workers at Hawkeswood Metal Recycling in Birmingham, on July 7, 2016.
Alimamo Jammeh, 45; Ousmane Diaby, 39; Bangally Dukureh, 55; Saibo Sillah, 42 and Muhamadou Jagana, 49, were clearing out a scrap metal storage bay when they were killed at the plant.
The men’s widows and family members wept uncontrollably in the packed public gallery as the jury returned its verdict after deliberating for three hours.
After the verdicts, a family spokesman said they were “extremely disappointed” and believed their loved ones had been unlawfully killed.
“No-one expects to go to work and die. We believe the deaths were avoidable and the company did not really care,” they added.
The two-week inquest heard how it took several days to recover all the workers’ bodies, which were so disfigured that all five were identified only by their fingerprint records held with passport details by immigration authorities in Spain.
A sixth man suffered a broken leg in the collapse at the facility, run by parent company Shredmet Ltd.
An inquest at the city’s coroner’s court into the circumstances of the men’s deaths earlier heard from an investigator that the site could have “most definitely” identified the risk of fall.
Birmingham and Solihull coroner Emma Brown had asked Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigator Paul Cooper whether the “risk of the wall failing” could have been spotted.
He replied “most definitely”, citing “common sense” as enough.
The jury heard last week that part of a stored pile of 263 tonnes of metal ingots had fallen, along with the wall, onto the group when the partition gave way.
They were told metal ingots stored in a neighbouring bay were piled at twice the recommended height.
Supervisor Garry Rowley told the hearing he believed the wall had been strong enough to support the metal.
During the hearing he was also asked by Brown about safety reviews at the site and answered that there had been no risk assessment “for anything.”
The supervisor said “it did not cross my mind” when asked by the coroner if “there [was] any need to consider” the strength of the walls.
He said he “thought the walls were strong enough because we have done the process many times, we had had no issues”.
During the inquest jurors also heard from the victims’ widows, one of whom found out her husband had died via a Whatsapp message.
Diaby’s widow, Aminata Kaba, said her last words to him had been to say she loved him during a conversation the night before.
With the help of an interpreter who speaks the native Gambian language of Mandingo, Kaba said her husband had left his native Senegal in 1999 to work in Spain as a pizza delivery man in Barcelona, where the couple lived until moving to Birmingham in March 2016.
She said: “I found out about his death when someone told me that a message had been put up on a WhatsApp group.
“I went to the mosque and my uncle told me. The last time I saw my husband was the night before and his last words to me was that he loved me and he asked me if I loved him too.
“I told him he was the only person I loved and that I really love him.”
Jammeh’s widow, Awa Dibba, said the accident had “torn my world apart” and she still had not told her youngest children about his death.
“Almamo worked so hard and loved his family. His death has torn the family apart both here and back home in Gambia. It has devastated us,” she said in a statement.
“The little children ask every day for their dad, they don’t know he has died.”
She added: “I was excited to tell my parents that I was going to England to start a new life, however when I arrived I had to tell them that my husband had died.
“The children were devastated as they thought they were going to see daddy and finally spend a lengthy period of time with him in the country where he was working.
“Instead I had to view his dead body at rest when I arrived.”
Dukuray’s wife, Hawa Kaba, a housekeeper at a Travelodge, said: “I can only describe the effect as absolutely devastating and I cannot believe he has passed away.
“Since my husband’s death my son has become very quiet and withdrawn.
“I have found life a huge struggle without him and I miss him daily.”
The widow of Mahamadou Jagana Jagana said her husband’s death had left her isolated in a foreign country where she has no friends.
Sillah’s cousin had a statement read out by a court officer which said his family “meant everything” and he would work seven days a week, every minute he could, to provide for his family in Gambia.
Detectives from West Midlands Police are investigating the deaths, alongside the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
After the verdict a family spokesman said: “What is clear is our loved ones died a violent death.
“What is also clear is that their deaths were avoidable. In our opinion it was obvious that the wall that fell on them and killed them was not built properly and that it was bound to fall.”
He added: “We believe that they thought of our loved ones as cheap labour and didn’t care if they lived or died.
“They put profit before people.”